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Paysage

Introduction

Perhaps more typical of the Massenet style is Paysage. Of all the poets in the first Recueil André Theuriet (1833–1907) is the least remembered although he was very famous in his time as a novelist and playwright (Sarah Bernhardt appeared in his Jean Marie, and he was elected to the Académie Française to replace Dumas). He was known as a poet of the provinces and this little Breton picture captures the mood of a gentle autumn where nothing much is happening far from the bustle of city life. Hahn complements this with a repetitive melody that is exchanged between piano and voice, the vocal line sometimes soaring, at other moments murmuring on a monotone. The accompaniment breaks into semiquavers at mention of the fountain and into limpid triplets at mention of the stream. The ending, which attempts the grandiose, is less successful for the poet and also, in consequence, for the composer. But this type of peroration, verging on sentimentality, is impeccably within the confines of salon style.